GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- Sami Aziz
retired in style Saturday, as the former Olympic wrestler outstruck
and outwrestled former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver in
the main event of Superior
Challenge 9.

Aziz put on a show for his hometown fans at Scandinavium arena,
earning a unanimous decision after three rounds.

The 41-year old showed no rust from his three-year layoff, landing
jabs, combinations and even spinning kicks in the opening frame.
Pulver looked to counter with left hands but was not able to find
his mark. As the fight wore on, Aziz took control by implementing
takedowns and ground-and-pound while keeping “Little Evil” on his
back.

“I’m finished,” Aziz told Sherdog.com after the bout. “It is my
time to maybe coach and help the sport outside of the cage.”

The show’s scheduled co-main event between Swedish UFC veterans
David
Bielkheden and Besam
Yousef was not to be, as Bielkheden withdrew from the match
just days before due to injury. Danny
Mitchell stepped up to replace the “Brazilian Swede” and, after
a feeling-out process in the first round, was able to get Yousef to
the ground. Mitchell finished with a rear-naked choke in round
two.

Finland’s Anton
Kuivanen returned to his winning ways by beating another Nordic
veteran, Gonzalez.
Kuivanen rushed in and rocked the Swede with a combination which
dropped “The Silencer.” The Finn waited for the referee to stop the
fight, but it didn’t happen, so Kuivanen continued his attack and
forced a stoppage.

“It was short but sweet,” said Kuivanen, who turned his fortunes
around after suffering a first-round knockout against Eric
Reynolds in September.

After the win, the former face of Superior Challenge, Reza Madadi,
stepped into the cage to call out Kuivanen.

“It is still my belt,” said Madadi, a training partner of Gonzalez,
referring to his status as Superior Challenge lightweight champion
before being called up to the UFC.

Matti
Makela and Matteo
Minonzio were destined for a slugfest after an intense faceoff
at Friday’s weigh-in where the two almost came to blows. After a
back-and-forth battle, it was Makela who dropped Minonzio and leapt
over the Italian in Superman-like fashion to finish the bout with
strikes in the second round.

The crowd got on their feet during a wild bout between Norway’s
Emil
Weber Meek and Sweden’t Per
Franklin. Meek appeared close to finishing the fight early with
damaging strikes in round one, but Franklin landed a huge right
hook which put Meek on skates. After regaining his composure, Meek
continued his assault, wearing down Franklin until ground-and-pound
in the second forced the referee to step in.